Burmese Refugees Flee to China Town

The BBC reports from Nansan, Yunnan, where thousands of Burmese refugees are camping to escape fighting across the border:

The Chinese have erected blue tents at the bottom of the hill for the refugees.

Despite the huge numbers that are reported to have come over the border, the camp does not seem to be full – but it is hard to tell for sure because the police will not let us in.

[…] All of [the refugees] said fear of the violence was the reason they had crossed the border.

“We are scared,” said another woman, “It’s war over there. We don’t know what’s going on. We saw other people run away so we just followed them.”

There were three generations here – old women, their daughters and their small children. They did not know how long they would have to stay, they said. The Chinese they had encountered – the police and others – had treated them well.